I had always wanted to do some sort of outdoor mural and Cambridge Primary School has so many boring blank walls that I had to come up with something.

question marks

I decided on a CD tree after seeing these trees at inspirational Coburn PS in Melton, Victoria. Mel and Kate, the incredible art teachers at Coburn PS, invited me over to their school (well, actually, I think I might have invited myself) to have a look at ALL their outdoor murals and they have done plenty of them!

painted CD tree at Coburn Primary School

They have mosaic murals,

mosaic mural Coburn PS 2014

clay tile murals,

clay tile mural Coburn Primary School 2014

painted bollards

painted bollards Coburn Primary School 2014

and CD trees!

Painted CD tree 2 Coburn Primary School 2014

They are everywhere and add so much to the atmosphere in their play space. So much better than bare walls!

mosaic mural outdoor Coburn Primary School 2014

So I decided I would have a go at a CD tree. However, like most things I do, the idea seemed to get bigger and bigger. Which grade level would I do this with? Perhaps the 5s? Or maybe the 4s and the 5s? Well, if I was going to do it with the 4s and the 5s I might as well include the 6s and what about the 3s? So, of course, I am doing it with the whole school!!!!

That’s only 940+ CDs – aaaggghhhhh!!!

screaming woman

So there will definitely be more than one tree. Perhaps it will look a little bit like this? This is a CD tree mural from Reservoir West Primary School created by Max Darby.

painted CD tree mural Reservoir west Primary School

And hopefully all the CDs will fit as tree foliage on the one wall! We’ll just have to wait and see.

Gabby and Mel, who teach Prep-2 Visual Arts, tackled their CDs and I tackled grades 3-6.

painted CDs 35 2015

We used Viponds acrylic paint, which is deliciously bright and glossy, as recommended by Mel and Kate from Coburn Primary School, as it is suitable for outdoor murals and will last on the CDs. I was stunned when I realized that Viponds Paint is actually manufactured in Victoria, in North Coburg to be exact. Not all that far from where I grew up in Brunswick. It always feels good to support Victorian manufacturers! You can get it from Cavalier Art Supplies in Geelong or Zart Art in Box Hill.

Viponds artist acrylic paint

It really is gorgeous paint and I discussed why we needed to use it with the students and the huge price difference between it and ordinary school acrylic paint. They were all very careful with it and, in fact, the grade 3-6 students used less paint than I actually thought they would.

painted CD 6 2015

I asked the students to paint a background colour on first, which was very quick with a fat brush. I had eight students fit around one painting table and then place their wet CD onto the painting rack which was now covered in newspaper so the CDs wouldn’t fall through the holes. As this was so quick and easy to do it was easily worked around all our other ongoing activities for each grade level.

painted CD 42 2015

The following week the students were given back their CD and, as we had done so much pattern work earlier in the year, I asked them to decorate their CD with pattern/s.

painted CD 56 2015

I was so impressed with the range of finished CDs and know they will look beautiful when the mural is finally put together. That’s job number 4,095,864,345 on my to do list!

painted CD 46 2015

And the Prep – 2 CDs are just as lovely as the 3 – 6 ones, as well as being strikingly different! I will share some of them when I grab some photos of them from Mel and Gabby.

painted CD 11 2015

And as for the CDs, I didn’t buy a single one! I just asked the Cambridge Primary School staff and community to clean out their DVD cupboards and their computer desks and send all their DEAD DISKS to me! DEAD being scratched, obsolete, not working, DVDs, CDs, game console disks, start up disks for 5 computers ago, can’t even remember where it came from disks, and we had more than 1000 in no time!

painted CD 1 2015

So I hope you have enjoyed looking at all these lovely painted CDs and I’ll be happy to share the next instalment of putting the mural together when it happens. I’m sure the students would appreciate it if you left them a comment.

Firstly, the Principal’s write up about the Art Show in her column in the school newsletter!!!

Congratulations to Shelley Menhennet and Susie Blake for the amazing job they did on the Art Show and leading up to it. Having spent some time at the Art Show, I was overwhelmed by the response from the community who attended the Art Show! It was a magnificent celebration for our community; there was so much positive feedback, and events such as this build our school into a stronger and more united communi-ty. The Art Show was a fabulous reminder of what a very special place Cambridge Primary School is and what very special and amazing people we work with.

Thank you Meenah!

And now for the School newsletter item!

Art Room News
CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL ART SHOW

Thank you! Thank You! Thank You! Thank you to all the wonderful families and friends that came to the Cambridge Primary School Biennial Art Show 2013! It was a huge success. I spoke to parents I have known for years and years and parents who were brand new to the school and everything in between and it was terrific to hear your support and praise for the Visual Arts Program. I especially liked all the “Oohs,” and “Aahs,” as everyone came round the corner and entered into the huge space in the middle!It was fantastic to see all of your smiling faces and especially the faces of all your children, grinning PROUDLY from ear to ear. And the children of Cambridge Primary School should be proud of themselves as their art work looked magical, on display, for everyone to see.

As you have probably already heard the Art Show, as announced at assembly on Monday morning, was a SELL OUT! Ms Cascone bought up so much work for Ms Marchbank that there was way too much for her to decorate her house with, so she sent lots of pieces back to school, and they are SLOWLY being distributed back through the classrooms. If your child has not received their work back yet, don’t panic! Mrs Blake and I have only had around 2000 pieces of work to distribute so it has all taken a bit longer that we thought to send it all home!

Thank you to those families that did buy their child’s art work. We were astounded when the count was done on Monday morning that the art sales alone had raised almost $1000. Most of this money will be used to buy some wooden weaving looms of assorted sizes for the children to use in the Art rooms.

Thank you to the Junior School Councillors for helping out when Mrs Blake and I thought we might not get all the work up in time. Thank you to Ms Mason ( and cute Estelle) and Ms McKenzie who came in to school in their own time to help us with the set up. Thank you to Ms Cascone, Mrs Hardy and Charlotte who came in especially to help us with the pack up. And thank you to Amy and Sarah Blake and Sam, Sebastian and Georgia Menhennet who worked long hours, both at school and at home, to support their exhausted, cranky mothers. It’s hard work being a teacher’s kid some-times!!!

I am really looking forward to the next art show, in two years time, and all the parents who said they would like to help out next time and will join me on the 2015 Art Show Committee. It will be fantastic to have so many willing helpers on board. And this is a picture of what I lloked like when I got home from the Art Show on the Saturday afternoon!

ART ROOM HELPERS If you would like to help out in the Art room
just come and see me and we will book a time that suits you.
You don’t have to book in for the time that your child is in the
Art room and you don’t need any special skills, just a willingness
to help out, and some time to do it.
It will give you the opportunity to experience one of our
specialist programs up close!

ART ROOM BLOGDon’t forget the BLOG – New art show photos on the blog soon – only about 1000 photos to go through first!?!?!?!

DONATIONS – Thank you for all the donations that keep arriving at the main art room. We love to reuse and recycle!
We still need –NEWSPAPERS,MAGAZINES

CDs (scratched ,not working or just a terrible singer, it doesn’t
really matter as we will be using them for WEAVING
(We have only received three but need many more!!!)

CLEAN plastic bottle TOPS and LIDS (I’m starting to save them for a big project for next year!)
JUNK OBJECTS FOR PRINTING (keys, buttons, spools, buckles, zips, cogs, screws, kitchen utensils, cutlery, clean sponges,etc, etc) Anything you can think of that would make an interesting impression in paint!
And anything else you can think of that you would like to donate!!!

Hi, I'm Shell, Welcome to the Back Art Room Blog which is about my Visual Arts program and its place in Primary Visual Arts education in Victoria, Australia. I teach Visual Arts at Cambridge Primary School in Hoppers Crossing so here you will find examples of my students amazing artworks, all sorts of things that happen in and around my art room, as well as my thoughts on Visual Arts education and whatever else I can squeeze in! I want to reflect on my own teaching and learning and interact, learn from and be inspired by others.

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